Tribute to the Thaliava, "MSD" !

 

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“Critics exists to make you realize that you still have got that fire in you, to wipe out their words which were meant to wipe you out” …

By the time you guys will be reading this sharing the IPL  21 named festival must have been over & the Indian T 20 Premier League, may be getting a new champion or ninth time finalists Chennai Super Kings may be gaining their fourth championship title! Whatever the result may be but CSK team has already entered in the finals & awaiting their opponents to be finalized out of the remaining three teams, which will be fighting to get that hot seat in the finals! If you are in India & still wondering about above names then they are from the game of cricket & its limited 20 overs format championship league currently being played in UAE (because of Covid in our country) & above are the names of the teams (just the way clubs in football)! But this writing is not about the game or IPL or T20 (20 over game’s short form) but its about the man who is leading CSK (one of the franchise or club or team) & has taken this team 9th time in the finals out of its 13 editions & I am referring to M S Dhoni who happens to be Team India’s (of course cricket team)!

I am a cricket fan & more than the game I am fan of the players for the way they play this game (or any game actually) & I have been watching, reading, listening (as in my school days it was radio only) to the cricket for nearly four decades now. During all these times many players, some of them are history now & many have become legend in the history of this game, I am sure with due respect to all such names, one name stands differently & that is the subject of this sharing i.e., MSD i.e., Mahendra Sing Dhoni! That way to make career in any game isn’t easy thing as even the icons like Tendulkars' & Kapildevs' get forgotten by the Companies which they happened to be the Brand Ambassadors & unlike in cinema (only if you succeed), the lime light fades very fast in sports. While at the age of 79, Amitabh Bachhan keeps signing new endorsement & if Bachhan is Super Human then with 50 plus age the Khan gang rules Bollywood while Irfan Pathan who once was star of team India, has to declare retirement in mid-30’s as there is no place in any team for him! On such background with no godfather, coming from a small town in Bihar & being able to be most talked player in the country of 130 plus crore population, at the age of 40, that’s what MSD is! But he is not special because he is most talked about, even his retirement from international cricket was discussed the way Mr. Modi’s retirement will be discussed (some are already discussing) & even today he has nearly 35 million followers on Insta & his Club or Team in IPL i.e., CSK page has more than 8 million followers & most of them are there because MSD leads CSK!

And many such things have been written, said, filmed about MSD, with a movie which made more than 100 Crore Rupees business is under his belt, based on his character! Even these all things don’t make MSD special, but the way he has carried himself as a player, as a captain as a leader & as a person, is what makes him not just special but very special. Here are few examples why I am saying so; nearly 15 years back when no body was ready to take rick of leading a team in T20 World Cup (after shameful performance in One Day’s World Cup), the responsibility given to a youngster (though of 27 years then) with long hairs & many thought if this tour was failure (many hoped for it) then they will blame & sack the youngster as remember all big names from Tendulkar, Ganguli, Dravid, Sehevag, Laxman etc. were in their prime then & yet they made MSD captain! Well, we all know what happened then afterwards but right from giving the last over of the final match (that too with Pakistan) to a totally unknown Joginder Sharma to coming ahead of in form Yuvraj Sing in World Cup Final in 2011 & winning the match with a six on last ball, he knew what he was doing & he always believed himself! And more than that not showing any emotions nor trying to be on front when its media or camera but allowing the team to lift the world cup & click themselves by being in background, MSD just started making people know what is being special means!

But age is such a wonderful enemy as on one side it gives you experience then on other side it takes away opportunities to use that experience & even MSD is no exception to this law of the age yet he gives tough fight even to the age at 40’s & that’s why he is special! As nearly 14 years from the T 20 World Cup Final to yesterday i.e., in 2021 when it’s time to lead against one of the best-balanced team in the IPL this year, he led from front & using his every trick which we call experience! Why he is special as last year CSK was at bottom of points tally &was the first team to got disqualify themselves from entering in to qualifying round & this year the very same team was the first to enter in the qualifier round & the captain was sure of it that they will do it! In this year’s entire league matches when batsman’s MSD was struggling to make runs & though the team is winning under captain MSD, there were whispers about future of batsman MSD, we all know that! But we forgot batsman or captain, both lives in one body & mind & that MSD is same & he showed it on the day where it mattered most! In the qualifier with Delhi Capitols team when the match was evenly balanced MSD came out for batting ahead of in form players like Jadeja & Bravo & finished the match single handedly taking his old horse’s team in the finals! This is why MSD is special, as at the age of 40, he knows what he is capable of, he is not afraid to take the challenges head on & still he leads from the front! And don’t underestimate the way he takes on the challenges, he is not a gambler though he sems to play blind a times! Behind the cool, emotionless mind there lies a ruthlessly cunning brain which knows exactly what he is doing! May it be dropping out dearest comrade like Raina in the crucial match or giving opportunity to discarded Uthappa, the brain & the mind goes in hand & makes the body follow! I won’t call it as turning the time wheel back rather I will call riding the time wheel, making the time stop as when you walk or run with any object matching its speed, the object looks like standstill; so has done MSD to the “Time” itself!

I remember a scene in the movie Deewar (plz don’t ask what is it, its Bachhan’s movie) where gang’s boss Iftekhar assigns young Bachhan a task of rescuing some consignment from the Police as well rival gang, Bachhan does it. And post that when Iftekhar goes to meet Bachhan with his aide, while watching Bacchan lazing in the chair from outside of his cabin, Iftekhar tells to his aide, “Iss ladkeko dekh rahe ho, ye ekdin jarur kuch Banega, isliye nahi ki jo kaam maine isse bataya ye usne kar dikhaya, par isliye ke isse malum tha ki wo ye kaam pura karega”! Well, bit difficult to translate Salim-Javed’s words in English but in nutshell, Iftekhar praised Bachhan for not just completing the task but for the confidence as Bachhan knew that he will complete the task!

Yesterday after the match when media asked CSK coach Stephen Flaming about the move of sending out of form Dhoni ahead of inform Jadeja, Flaming told to the media, “We discussed about it (himself & Dhoni) & when I looked in the eyes of MSD when he said he will go for bat, the eyes told me that he will win the match for us”, do I need to still write why MSD is special!

Many of you will say its too much of glorification & after all it’s a game why a man like me past 50 should waste my time & others by making them read about some silly games near retirement player & I wont object as you have every right to say this! Let me tell you watching, reading, observing persons like MSD is like sitting in open classroom of life management! People spend millions of rupees & years to get management degrees in the top rated Business Schools’ & keeping due respect for them, MSD is one Business School by himself! Whatever I have shared all above about MSD is not just some time-pass watching him lift the ball in the stands for six (partly yes) but the way he controls himself along with his team has taught me many things, though not even one third of it I am able to yet adopt by myself, I am still trying! That way millions of fans watch MSD in the game as a captain, as a batsman, as a wicketkeeper, enjoys their team win & goes happily to home or switch of the TV after the match but real MSD makes his place in the mind & heart of people like me who may not be able to play the game of cricket anymore but keeps getting tips from him for the game of life, which is on forever; that’s why MSD is very special for me!

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Sanjay Deshpande 

Sanjeevani Dev.

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